While many
young people think no older person has anything useful to teach them for living
today, the pope said, the age of the bishops, combined with clericalism, can
lead "us to believe that we belong to a group that has all the answers and
no longer needs to listen or learn anything."

"Clericalism
is a perversion and is the root of many evils in the church," Pope Francis
said Oct. 3 at the synod's first working session. "We must humbly ask
forgiveness for this and above all create the conditions so that it is not
repeated."

The pope
formally welcomed 267 bishops and priests as voting members of the synod, eight
fraternal delegates from other Christian churches and another 72 young adults,
members of religious orders and lay men and women observers and experts at the
synod, which will meet through Oct. 28.

Pope Francis addresses the opening session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct 3. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

He also
thanked the thousands of young people who responded to a Vatican questionnaire,
participated in a presynod meeting in March or spoke to their bishops about
their concerns. With the gift of their time and energy, he said, they
"wagered that it is worth the effort to feel part of the church or to
enter into dialogue with her."

They showed
that, at least on some level, they believe the church can be a mother, teacher,
home and family to them, he said. And they are asserting that "despite
human weaknesses and difficulties," they believe the church is
"capable of radiating and conveying Christ's timeless message."

"Our
responsibility here at the synod," the pope said, "is not to
undermine them, but rather to show that they are right to wager: It truly is
worth the effort, it is not a waste of time!"

Pope Francis addresses the opening session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct 3. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Pope Francis
began the synod with an invitation that every participant "speak with
courage and frankness" because "only dialogue can help us grow."

But he also
asked participants to be on guard against "useless chatter, rumors,
conjectures or prejudices" and to be humble enough to listen to others.

Many of the
synod participants arrived in Rome with the text of the three-minute speech
they intended to give, but the pope asked them "to feel free to consider
what you have prepared as a provisional draft open to any additions and changes
that the synod journey may suggest to each of you."

A
willingness to "change our convictions and positions," he said, is
"a sign of great human and spiritual maturity."

A bishop takes a photo of a youth delegate before the opening session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct 3. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

The synod is
designed to be an "exercise in discernment," the pope told them.
"Discernment is not an advertising slogan, it is not an organizational
technique or a fad of this pontificate, but an interior attitude rooted in an
act of faith."

Discernment
"is based on the conviction that God is at work in world history, in
life's events, in the people I meet and who speak to me," he said. It
requires listening and prayer, which is why the pope has added a rule that
after every five speeches there will be a three-minute pause for silent
reflection and prayer.

Listening to
the Spirit, listening to God in prayer and listening to the hopes and dreams of
young people are part of the church's mission, the pope said. The preparatory
process for the synod "highlighted a church that needs to listen,
including to those young people who often do not feel understood by the
church" or feel they "are not accepted for who they really are, and
are sometimes even rejected."

Listening to
each other, especially young people and bishops listening to each other, he
said, is the only way the synod can come to any helpful suggestions for leading
more young people to the faith or for strengthening the faith of young people
involved in church life.

"Adults
should overcome the temptation to underestimate the abilities of young people
and (should) not judge them negatively," he said. "I once read that
the first mention of this fact dates back to 3000 B.C. and was discovered on a
clay pot in ancient Babylon, where it is written that young people are immoral
and incapable of saving their people's culture."

A Swiss Guard is seen as Pope Francis leaves the opening session of the Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith and vocational discernment at the Vatican Oct 3. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

Young
people, too, he said, must "overcome the temptation to ignore adults and
to consider the elderly 'archaic, outdated and boring,' forgetting that it is
foolish always to start from scratch as if life began only with each of
them."

Pope
Francis, who was asked by a couple of bishops to postpone the synod because of
the clerical sexual abuse scandal, said he knows the present moment is
"laden with struggles, problems, burdens. But our faith tells us that it
is also the 'kairos' (opportune moment) in which the Lord comes to meet us in
order to love us and call us to the fullness of life."

The goal of
the synod, Pope Francis said, is not to prepare a document — synod documents,
he said, generally are "only read by a few and criticized by many " — but to identify "concrete pastoral proposals" that would help all
church members reach out to, walk with and support the faith of young people.

In other
words, he said, the goal is "to plant dreams, draw forth prophecies and
visions, allow hope to flourish, inspire trust, bind up wounds, weave together
relationships, awaken a dawn of hope, learn from one another and create a
bright resourcefulness that will enlighten minds, warm hearts, give strength to
our hands and inspire in young people — all young people, with no one excluded — a vision of the future filled with the joy of the Gospel." [Source: Catholic News Service]